


introvert survival tactics

by spaceghosts



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Clingy, Communication, Cuddling, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Introvert, M/M, Post-Squip, Stream of Consciousness, and is a little bit touch-starved, and jeremy missed michael, and then jeremy has thoughts, and there's a lot, and what ideas i have, basically michael thinks a lot about jeremy, bc that, boyf riends - Freeform, but they're both very nervous, but they're trying, hand holding, jeremy has some issues, michael mell thoughts tm, okay I'm done enjoy xo, they talk about the squipcident and its awkward but wow communication, they talk but its hard, they're both trying to be better, they're not perfect, this might turn into a series? we'll see what happens, trying to fix stuff :), video games - Freeform, what do you call it when someone's head is in their lap?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 12:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16241735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceghosts/pseuds/spaceghosts
Summary: The thing was, even with the Squip, Jeremy was an introvert.





	introvert survival tactics

**Author's Note:**

> this was inspired by this tumblr post about introverts. I read it and thought of a clingy, introverted jeremy and suddenly had to write.  
> http://momozo-takenaka.tumblr.com/post/100460410797/talkdowntowhitepeople-idk-why-introverts-have-a
> 
> enjoy!!

The thing was, even with the Squip, Jeremy was an introvert.

Michael knew this. He knew that Jeremy would always prefer to sit in his basement and play video games until his vision blurred than go to a party and interact with people.

And maybe that’s why it was so hard to believe when he had first seen Jeremy at the party, chatting with Brooke and Christine and Chloe. Laughing like it came naturally. Not looking for the first opportunity to duck out. Not hating life like Michael was. It was something previously deemed impossible by Jeremy himself.

“I just- never think that I’ll be able to function like a human being,” Jeremy had said, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling, with his head tilted back. Michael noticed the tendons in his neck.

“I don’t understand how people get- not like, a rush, but enjoyment and energy from interacting with people. I just want to be at home with you.” 

(“Home. With me. Home.” Michael didn’t think)

Introverts always have a favorite person, someone they decide that’s worth their time and someone they can stand. Michael thinks about this when Jeremy talks aimlessly and rambles with his head in Michael’s lap. Michael thinks about this when he sees Jeremy surrounded by people at school and won’t even glance Michael’s way.

After, when Jeremy and Michael hang out (hanging out has never felt so forced and uncool), Jeremy is astonishingly quiet. And Michael gets it. The Squip and lack thereof, now, is a lot to handle and requires a lot of thinking. Michael tries not to think about how he doesn’t know if they’re still best friends. 

Eventually the silence gets so think that Michael throws himself into action. He pauses the game and turns to Jeremy (as much as you can turn while in a bean bag). Jeremy is sitting straight up, not a flaw in his posture. 

“Jeremy,” he starts. When Jeremy lifts tired eyes toward him, he folds. “Are you sleeping okay?” Always looking after him. Always falling to take care of him.

“No?” Jeremy says like a question. 

Michael sighs and moves to pull Jeremy into a hug. Jeremy is rock solid. “You can hug me back, you know.” 

“I know,” he says, but moves his arms to Michael’s back anyway.

Pulling away, Michael looks Jeremy in the eye and tries to see why he can’t talk.  
“What’s wrong?” he settles for. Softly though. “Why aren’t you talking to me?”

Jeremy’s mouth twists and he bites the inside of his cheek. “I miss hearing you ramble.” Michael admits. 

“I talk too much.”

Michael thinks about how touchy and tactile Jeremy used to be. Talkative and thoughtful. “You really. . . don’t. Especially now.”

Jeremy laughs very softly and humorlessly. “I don’t want it to come back and tell me that I’m being too. . . much. Or that I’m speaking in circles. Or going nowhere with a point.”

“Fortunately, I love when you talk in circles and go nowhere with a point.” Michael, very bravely, takes one of Jeremy’s hands. 

Introverts are clingy. Jeremy holds Michael’s hand tightly and almost tilts his center of gravity toward Michael.

“Tell me something.” Jeremy requests.

“Koala fingerprints are so close to humans’ that they’ve been confused at a crime scene.” Michael rattles off immediately. 

“Really?” and Jeremy moves to put his head in Michael’s lap. (Awkwardly and slowly, but he does it nonetheless.) (Michael thinks he’s dying.) 

“Yeah, I watched this documentary. . .” and Michael’s off. It starts off rough. Michael gives Jeremy room to comment or to take the conversation and he doesn’t always contribute but, somehow it gets easier.

And Jeremy starts thinking about koalas and talking too much and being able to touch people and the curve of Michael’s jaw, and thinks less about what to say.

They go back and forth with rambling on everything; Christine, the cat Michael’s always wanted (cute, Jeremy thinks), the play next year, how crazy it is that they’re gonna be seniors soon. It’s not all perfect, sometimes they pause awkwardly and at one point Michael realizes that he’s running his fingers through Jeremy’s hair, and stops abruptly, and Jeremy pushes his head back into it, and Michael tries not to cry from how much he missed him. Jeremy sometimes stops mid word and has to swallow down whatever’s trying to stop him from speaking, and talking about the Squip is still rough, it might never be easy.

Michael gets updated on a few things he missed while Jeremy was Squipped, but it’s not as painful, it’s like when Jeremy hadn’t talked to anyone else and had to talk to someone about what happened.

Jeremy hears about how lonely Michael was and tries not to feel guilty. He apologizes again and again, and it’s never enough, but Michael insists it’s in the past. Michael talks about the (many) documentaries he watched while Jeremy was buying Eminem t-shirts and how he and Christine kinda became friends last week? He doesn’t know how it happened either.

They talk by the glow of the TV screen and well into the night. Jeremy’s skin is lit up blue and Michael can feel his heart glowing when Jeremy looks at him, and he can see who he was before the fucking Squip.

It’s not perfect, but it’s good.

**Author's Note:**

> \- HA GET IT BC FAVORITE PERSON! AND THEY'RE THE INTROVERT FAVORITE FOR EACH OTHER! AND MICHAEL IS TALKATIVE AND TOUCHY AROUND JEREMY BUT THINKS ITS A JEREMY THING WHEN ITS A THEM THING!! GET IT??
> 
> \- also the koala fact came from me googling "weird animal facts." you're welcome. 
> 
> \- and also michael is home to jeremy. did y'all see that? 
> 
> \- (ps jeremy's insecurities about talking to much are me too. just look at the tags and how i made the same point like 4 times. love that for me.)
> 
> \- I have some more ideas for this?? about v introverted micah and jer so i could go on if u want,,


End file.
